She cannot believe that two decades have passed since the day that two family members were killed and her familys life was changed forever. Steven Benson denied all requests for media interviews. He told the attorneys he did not want them standing up and shouting, "I object." Benson told his family members where to sit in the Suburban. And so he appears very much alone. The next day, Wayne Kerr, at whose wedding Steven Benson had been the best man, took the stand. [4] The murder of Margaret and Scott Benson in 1985 drew national crime coverage never seen before and rarely since to Naples. Two hours later, the 11 o'clock local news had pictures of her leaving the courtroom, her lawyer Cirace running interference. How it wasnt run correctly. September 1, 1989. A jury convicted Steven Benson of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and arson of a dwelling. ), After a brief rebuttal by the prosecution, Judge Hayes let the jury go. The three children were to divide the estate equally. [3], On July 9, 1985, Benson placed a pipe bomb in the family car, in which Margaret, Scott, and Steven's sister, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall (a former Miss Florida runner-up), were waiting for Benson to join them when the Chevrolet Suburban exploded. He was a strange fellow, says Sands, who worked as a landscaper for Bensons late grandfather, Hitchcock. The Prosecution. Many members of the family have disappeared from public view in the past 20 years. Click here to learn more about the role the Lancaster County Local Journalism Fund plays in Lancaster County and to make a tax-deductible donation. 10-Year Discipline History: . . Bennett had heard of the financial battles that took place in the family, how Margaret Benson used money to control her children, how they fought each other and with her for access to wealth, as Margaret Benson asked the secretary to inform and spy on her. 'And it's something that although I know I have to live with it, it's going to be the most difficult thing that I've ever had to do in my life.'. She was afraid her brother would come after her and her children if he ever got free. Benson is also featured in an episode of the New Detectives entitled "Short Fuse" (Season 2, Episode 3) and an episode of Florida Man Murders entitled "Killer Succession" (Season 1, Episode 3). Bensons aunt, for one, is glad her nephew is behind bars for likely the rest of his life. And if Steven Benson walks out of the courtroom a free man, he will still be in line for a third or even a half of his mother's $10 million estate. Success! He was my main suspicion before I got out of the house with him.. The Trustees set up a trust for Kendall, a trust for Stephen, and a share for Scott. Best of 2022 Top 250 Movies Most Popular Movies Top 250 TV Shows Most Popular TV Shows Most Popular Video Games Most Popular Music Videos Most Popular Podcasts. But everyone agreed that she had done so well, it might be unwise to risk a second appearance. Its like the story that keeps on giving. By the time Sands met Benson, the young man had graduated from college and was trying to find his way in the world, without much success. Dysfunction, said Patty Bennett, a juror on the case, trying to describe the Benson family. Under Florida law, Steven Benson is precluded from receiving proceeds of the estate of the person he murdered, Hayes said. Copyright 2023 The Washington Times, LLC He got stabbed, and a knife was found in his own cell. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Police officers also testified their investigation indicated Steven had acted out of character in several respects that morning, first by insisting that Scott be awakened and included in the group, and then by having Scott drive. Support local journalism. Just sort of odd, very different.. You can add or change photos at IMDb Pro. he asked. . Steven Wayne Benson was an American double murderer of his mother, tobacco heiress Margaret Benson, and his brother, tennis player Scott Benson. [6][7] Over the course of his sentence, Benson was transferred to various prisons because of constant threats and abuse from other inmates. He worked in the laundry. He became known for writing grievances against both inmates and correctional officers, complaining about anything from the amount of sales tax charged at commissary to the Spanish programs playing in the television room. His grandson never acknowledged him again, not even when he came to Florida for the trial. His face got really red. Steven Benson in the Florida courtroom where a jury convicted him in 1986 of blowing up his family in a Chevy Suburban in the driveway of their Naples, Fla., home on July 9, 1985. Its almost like its unbelievable, Murphy said today. Carol Kendall was born on 07/08/1944 and is 78 years old. ), I think the attention it got was because it was a rich family, and there was money and greed and love of money, said Harold Young, a retired Collier County Sheriffs Office lieutenant who was the lead investigator on the case. "Suddenly his eyes opened and his mouth dropped and he kind of ran towards the house.". Bensons grandfather, the family patriarch and the Lancaster Leaf Tobacco magnate, the late Harry Hitchcock, was a congenial-looking, white-haired Christian businessman known for his tulip gardens in School Lane Hills. That she was once a beauty contest winner is easy to see. The judge did another unusual thing. Steven Bensons trial is scheduled to begin in Naples, Fla., on Nov. 13. He was supposed to provide them the next day, the day the bomb went off.. Yesterday, a jury began deliberations on those charges after weeks of riveting testimony involving enormous amounts of money and a tangled family web. It just never stopped, Cirace said. McDonnell did not call Steven Benson in his own defense. After her testimony, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall was nowhere to be seen. By the time the trial began, Steven Benson had been in jail for almost 11 months. He said Steven was laughing. Benson was also charged with the attempted first-degree murder of his sister, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall. Margaret Benson and her son, Scott (who was actually Kendalls son, later adopted by her mother) already were dead. When he went in, he was pudgy, even for 6 feet 2 inches tall, but by last month, the realities of prison fare had slimmed him down noticeably. Margaret Benson eventually loaned her son the money but he never did anything with the building, Sands says. The attorney said, I want you to meet Steven Benson, she recalled. He didnt say anything after prison. But the topic was always the same: problems in prison. Carol Lynn Kendall, sister of Steven Benson, survived the car bomb that killed her son, Scott Benson, and mother, Margaret Benson, on July 9, 1985. Steven Bensons late father didnt think he was capable of doing anything, Cirace said, an assessment that apparently was correct as Benson, who grew up and lived in Lancaster most of his life, left behind a series of failed business ventures. She was crying. Thats the whole thing: self, self, self and me, me, me and me. By the time the closing statements were presented, the evidence was clear, Bennett said. It seemed like a dumb thing." Quinn, left-center, was watching the production with friend Kathleen Garvey, left, and daughter Debbie Quinn, right, as the crew worked on a production for Court TV about the 1985 murders of tobacco heiress Margaret Benson and her son Scott. * The prosecution's key evidence, along with the testimony of Steven's sister, were palm prints on sales receipts for pipe identical to that used in the bombs, as well as end caps. It looks like we don't have any photos for Carol Lynn Benson Kendall yet. But by late 1984 and early 1985, they argue, she was coming to the conclusion that bankrolling Steven was something less than sound. In August 1986, Margaret Bensons son, Steven Wayne Benson, was convicted in the slaying of his mother and her adopted son, Scott R. Benson, 21. Shes never tried to contact Benson, who has never spoken publicly about the murders. I think it was just pure greed for money, Murphy said. District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District. Behind bars, Benson has worked in the laundry and on a painting detail. But what is apparently harder is that she has to face the death of Scott Benson, who died at the age of 21 without ever knowing that the woman he thought was his much older sister, by adoption, was in fact his own natural mother. (AP Photo). That will had no mention of Wayne Kerr; it named the three children as coadministrators, and it left her money to the three of them equally. I knew it was no accident, said Young, now 75, of Naples. (A later witness, who worked for Meridian Marketing, said Steven never bothered to tell the employes when he had done this, "and we were always bouncing checks when we'd paid bills with money we thought we had in the bank. We learned about the passing of Carol Lynn Benson Kendall on May 23, 2022. He is a good son. Carol Lynn Benson Kendall Disbarred . Scott ran with a rough crowd, and was known to get rough with both Margaret and Carol Lynn. The Trustees have not presented reasonable grounds for attributing the settlors scheme to their section of the trustee exercised on November 27, 1985, following the death of Ms. Benson. Hitchcock died in 1990, five years after the Florida killings. (Photo: File), Cameraman Al Durruthy records video footage of a Chevrolet Suburban outside the home of Mary Quinn, Wednesday afternoon (June 4), in the Quail Creek Estates in North Naples. He was sobbing.. In July 1985, 63-year-old Margaret, her 41-year-old daughter Caroline Benson Kendall, her 33-year-old son Stephen Benson, and her 21-year-old adopted son Scott Benson got into the car to drive away to check a piece of land in the city where Margaret planned to build another house for the family. However, according to a veteran Florida criminal attorney, "any time in a murder case when a defendant without a prior record fails to take the stand, it looks bad. It wasn't the prison pallor that surprised people who had known him; it was the grim and almost affectless bearing. Other testimony revealed another regular expenditure. The jury deliberated just 12 hours before finding Benson guilty. Harold Young, the lead Collier County sheriff's detective who pegged Benson as his primary suspect the day of the killings, said he is more surprised by the length of the investigation than the way Benson died. He spent a lot of money and never did anything with it. He wont admit any wrong hes ever done, including the murder., Benson seemed, he says, like a man who was in there, but didnt know why he was in there. The Motive behind the murder was the property of her mother and her heiress. In the second half of 2015, there were close to 200 inmate deaths in Florida's prisons. He had very few visitors. The jury convicted him of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and arson of a dwelling in the killing of his mother and nephew and injuring of his sister with car-bomb in front of their Naples, Fla., home. (Admitted to practice: 2002) Further, Kendall shall pay . It continued to prosper, and eventually both families had what some people call "real money," and what others disdain as "nouveau. Twelve and a half hours later, almost to the minute, Harry Hitchcock's granddaughter made an equally dramatic, if brief, appearance in the courtroom. Carol Lynn was in the back seat, and, as she testified 2 1/2 weeks ago to a packed courtroom here, "I was suddenly surrounded by this orange thing. And trying to come to grips with the loss of her mother, with whom she had been close, at least from time to time, has been hard. He just kept a straight face.. All but 30 remain open investigations. Florida authorities have charged Steven Benson, Mrs. Kendalls 34-year-old natural brother, with setting the blast outside the familys Naples, Fla., home because he believed he was about to be cut out of his mothers will. Kendall was injured in the car-bomb that killed her son, Scott Benson, and mother, Margaret Benson, on July 9, 1985, in front of their Naples, Fla., home. [citation needed], Dominick Dunne's Power, Privilege, and Justice, "Killer Succession" (Season 1, Episode 3), "Inmate Population Information Detail - Steven Benson", "In the Know: Is that Benson guy still in prison? Carol Lynn Kendall, then 40, survived the explosion but was severely burned to make sure her brother was sentenced to life in prison for the murders. He said Mrs. Kendall, who was recovering from severe burns at her home in the Chestnut Hill section of Boston, recently told her teen-age sons about Scotts parentage, but never told Scott. A juror examines a photo of the Chevy Suburban that Steven Benson exploded with a pipe-bomb in front of his family's Naples, Fla., home, killing his mother and nephew and injuring of his sister. She was not allowed to leave town, as there was the possibility that the state might put her back on the stand. Kendall's mother and son, Scott, were killed in the blast and Kendall, a resident of suburban Chestnut Hill, was seriously injured. Murphys nephew, Steven Benson, was the only one to escape the fiery blast that day. US fails miserably against Russia at the crucial UN Vote. FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) _ The estate of murdered tobacco heiress Margaret Benson should be shared equally by the children of the son who killed her and by her daughter, a judge has ruled. Oh no, she thought. Carol Lynn Kendall unsuccessfully ran for a Naples City Council seat while living in Port . He went through money like crazy, Sands says. I dont know if it will ever go away or not., Information from: LNP, https://lancasteronline.com. It was a journey, and every day we learned something new and awful., E. Richard Cirace, a Boston attorney who advised Kendall during the trial, said the case was compelling due to its colorful cast of characters.. Puncture wound of right temple made by a sharpened instrument ('shank')," the report states. Scott Benson, who was originally thought to be Steven Benson's brother but was revealed during the trial to be his nephew, was killed at the age of 21 on July 9, 1985, in front of his Naples, Fla., home by the car bomb that also took the life of his grandmother, Margaret Benson, who was 63 at the time, and injured his mother, Carol Lynn Kendall. Steven Wayne Benson[1] (July 26, 1951 July 3, 2015) was an American convicted double murderer of his mother, tobacco heiress Margaret Benson; and his brother (actually his nephew but later adopted), tennis player Scott Benson. Steven Benson, right, enters Lee County Court with his defense attorney Mike McDonnell as the jury selection portion of his murder trial Monday, July 14, 1986. Benson calmly talking on the phone about his burglar alarm companys profits when investigators arrived at the home where the shattered bodies of his mother, Margaret, 63, and his brother, Scott, 21, still lay outside on the driveway. Then the bombs went off. Benson, then 33, was running out of it and wanted to inherit his mother's. He just ignored it.. Investigators also found on Bensons pants a single particle of zinc, which they said fell off the pipe while he was making the bombs. "How long does it take to say a guy was stabbed in the temple?" It also wanted to rehear some of what the government fingerprint expert had said about the palm prints. [4] Kendall survived but was badly burned; Margaret and Scott died instantly from the bomb blast. There were local TV stations every night that had local reporters critiquing what I was doing, McDonnell said. Steven Benson was taken into police custody on August 22, 1985, after being accused of blowing up his family in a Chevy Suburban in the driveway of their Naples, Fla., home on July 9 of the same year. Another facet of the prosecutor's argument was that Steven had been very specific about where each one of the family's members was to sit in the wagon -- and then, just before the first blast, he said he had forgotten a tape measure and headed back to the house. When the police questioned him about the trip, he said he was delayed when he ran into some people he knew; but Steven was unable to provide the police with their names. ", When they got back to Naples, Margaret told Steven she wanted to meet with him and Kerr that evening and "talk business." I hope he does, she said. . It was just a tragic story. Is Carol Lynn Benson Kendall still alive? Attorneys representing Steven Benson, 36, and Margaret Benson's daughter, Carol Lynn Benson Kendall, 43, said they both probably will appeal Monday's ruling. Tragically, Hitchcock turned out to be right about his grandson. Under the law, jurors are not supposed to take this into consideration. Beyond that, Young had little to say. Despite claims by the defense that Scott was heavily involved in drug use and possibly even drug dealing (and that the bombing was therefore drug-related) there was little testimony that Scott was anything more than a regular user of nitrous oxide and an occasional user of marijuana and cocaine. By July 8, the day before the bombing, Margaret had learned of Steven's new house in Fort Myers, according to testimony. It was her sister, Margaret, 63, and her nephew, Scott, 21, who had died in a horrific car explosion in Florida. Collier County's most notorious killer himself met with a violent end. People had suspicions as to why, after having two children of her own, all of a sudden Mrs. Benson adopts a third.. Thats the way Steve was.. Bennett heard Kendall, who was disfigured in the bombing, testify that after the first blast blew her out of the car, she was still conscious, and she yelled to her brother to help her. Benson was sentenced to life in prison. The case still resonates three decades later. He wanted his own way and he was going to get it one way or another, he says. That she is now horribly scarred is obvious; large red subdermal slashes streak her face. The only survivor of the blast, Steven Benson's sister, Carol Lynn. Benson has had his share of problems behind bars. Connect with the definitive source for global and local news. Real estate. 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